“What is your name,” a mechanical voice shouted through the receiver of my phone. Before I could answer this bizarre beginning to a call, he added, “ What is your address, Where do you work, Do you have any other phone numbers…?” The barrage of accusatory questions with no basis continued for several minutes with me barely able to get a word in edgewise, and then.., “Do you have a 13 year old son?”, with this sentence… my heart began to race, my eyes started to blur and the the room began to warp.

Oakland - Tenant activists are urging low-income renters in HUD’s (Department of Housing and Urban Development) subsidized housing programs to contact their representatives during February 18 - February 26, to speak up in support of HUD’s subsidized housing programs. Massive budget cuts to the federal government are being proposed ranging from $6 trillion, to over $10 trillion during the next ten years.

In the aftermath of Oakland ,Ca. Ghostship fire many questions still remain. The two biggest of course are how did it happen and could it have been prevented ?

As fire investigators continue to look for clues, one puzzling question that still remains is, of the 36 people who died and in the sea of faces posted in papers and the internet, why wasn’t a single one of them black ?

EDITOR'S NOTE: An interpreter did English to Spanish translation during the press conference. The audience questions (all of which were in Spanish), at the end, were translated to Attorney Pointer for his responses. This is a transcript of attorney Pointer's statement and answers to questions by the attendees. The press conference included words from Luis Gongora's family and presentation of a quilt to the family to show our love and solidarity towards them. Further coverage of this from Poor Magazine is forthcoming.

As Black liberation movement protests spread across the globe like wildfire, an encampment of homeless residents in São Paulo—South America's largest corporate hub—fights to survive gentrification and police violence.